Using the Expedition Kit with Maggie Massey

Hey, everyone! Maggie here with a closer look at one of the layouts from my "Expedition" gallery.

The main focus of my page is this month's stamp subscription kit. I just love the buildable badges, icons, and phrases, and it's the perfect way to document all of your summer adventures! 

My son attends church camp each year a few states away, so I thought that getting a photo from his time there would be PERFECT to use for these stamps. But, alas, the kids aren't allowed to have their phones with them during the week (yay!), and I totally flaked on sending a disposal camera with him on his trip last summer (boo...). I thought about just googling the camp and printing off a generic photo of the campgrounds...until I remembered that Gray's Youth Pastor had texted me a couple of photos the day they were leaving for home—YES! 

I had a general idea of how I wanted to use the stamp before I began. I used a ruler and quickly penciled in some guidelines along my page, and then I stamped the chevron badge outline three times on each line. 

Next, I began filling in each badge with other stamps from the set using colors that coordinated with the colors in my photo. 

I stamped another badge outline onto a piece of scrap paper, cut it out, and used that template to cut some of my favorite patterned paper from the kit to fit into a couple of the outlines. Then I stitched along the borders to add a little texture to those spaces. 

My initial thought was to print my photo small enough to cut and fit into one of the badge outlines, but things didn't work out as planned. The orientation of the photo made it a little too awkward without cutting out half of the people. So, instead, I printed it out at a little under 4" x 3" and positioned it over my center badge. I think I actually like the way this looks better than I would have with a badge-shaped photo. 

I completed my page by adding a few more phrase stamps from the stamp set, and then some stars, sequins, and chipboard stickers from the Scrapbook Kit. I love how this page turned out, and I see many more summer/adventure/camp-themed layouts in my future! Thank you so much for taking a look!